The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has facilitated the opening of a new 2 000-seat call centre facility in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal. This brings another investment of R200 million into the sector.
The additional 2 000 jobs - created by CCI Call Centres - adds to the more than 9 000 people employed by the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector last year. The sector's umbrella body, Business Process enabling SA (BPeSA), expects the entire industry will have added 30 000 new jobs by 2016.
Speaking at the opening of the centre, King Goodwill Zwelithini noted youth unemployment is a societal problem that both government and the private sector should work together to address.
CCI established its operation in SA in 2005, starting with 50 seats, and currently has 3 000 seats in Umhlanga, serving local and international clients. The new building is its first custom-built office.
The company specialises in the implementation and operation of outbound, inbound and blended multichannel contact centres.
Incentivised industry
The BPO industry employs more than 40 000 people, of which approximately 11 500 are as a result of foreign direct investment, according to the 2014 BPeSA Key Indicator Report.
Zwelithini encouraged CCI to also consider having offices in rural areas, other provinces and Southern African Development Community countries. CCI is a beneficiary of the DTI's incentive programme, launched in 2011, which aims to trim operating costs by up to 20% as it pays investors R112 000 for each full-time job created and maintained.
CCI MD Mark Chana said "the support from the South African government," through the incentive, makes SA cost-competitive when bidding for international contracts against other offshore destinations such as the Philippines.
Trade and industry minister Rob Davies said expansion of skills remains vital to the support which is offered by the South African government to investors. He noted the partnership between government and the private sector is important to the continuing success of the sector.
Foreign investment
In 2014, 3 400 jobs were created in the Western Cape alone, according to a statement issued by BPeSA. The umbrella body notes foreign investment continues to drive growth across the industry and has accounted for the bulk of jobs created over the past two years.
Companies such as Amazon, American Airlines, BP, Lufthansa, 02, Shell and Swiss International all use the Western Cape - the largest concentration of BPO centres in SA - as a global base to service their customers, BPeSA CEO Gareth Pritchard has noted.
Most of the foreign investment in the industry is driven by the UK, with 63.3% of the offshore market, a 1.9% increase from 2013; followed by the US and Australia at 11.5% and 9.4%, respectively. In total, 88.2% of offshore work in the Western Cape is conducted in English, a 6.2% increase from 2013.
Financial services accounts for the highest proportion of agents, at 41.7% of the market, a 0.5% increase from 2013. Within the offshore market, telecoms is the fastest growing sector at 37.3%, a 23.2% increase from 2013.
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